pcrum

Eating with strangers would be my worse nightmare!

Great review. Glad you had a such a good cruise. It was great to read a review for a ship I am really interested in. I follow @Saint Gregand a few others because I enjoy their take on cruising and the pre-cruise information, but I honestly will probably never cruise Carnival again. But this NCL Prima ship looks spectacular! I’m sorry it’s leaving my home port so soon.

Now @Saint Gregjust needs to find a friend on his cruise. 😊

Is it weird that I am bothered by the fact that the cheese is not melted.

Concierge was so much more to us. I live in Orlando, so we drove to Miami the morning of our sailing. After driving in Miami traffic, having the sit down lunch in the MDR for concierge class was worth the price to me!! We also were invited to the helipad for sail away, which was stunning. A great view and cocktails, what’s not to like? My daughter is gluten free and I’m low carb, so we let our room steward know we preferred a fruit and cheese plate as our snack and he had it there every afternoon. The upgraded bottle of bubbly came home with us. There was also a dedicated line for us at guest services. I’d do concierge class again! We were fortunate to get an aft balcony, so the balcony was huge and we enjoyed our room service breakfast there each morning. I can’t wait to sail Celebrity concierge class again!

I compared Carnival to Celebrity for a 4 night cruise 12/27-12/31/22. With the Wi-Fi, tips, and premium beverage package (included at the time of our booking) plus $100/person onboard credit, Celebrity was cheaper than doing Carnival at the same time and adding in a “Cheers” package, tips, and Wi-Fi. Plus, Carnival’s Cheers is not really geared to wine drinkers and we like the better wines. I’m all about the bottom line, but when I can get a better cruise experience for less money than Carnival, that’s where I’m sailing. I have not been on Carnival since 2013 because I prefer other lines. MSC and NCL are also favorites.

I must agree that Celebrity is absolutely lovely. I celebrated my 60th birthday in December on the Summit, an older ship, but was blown away by the service, food, and drinks. I much prefer the “ everything included “ model and we booked at a time when the premium beverage package was included. Carnival has an abysmal wine list, but had we added their “Cheers” package and gratitudes and unlimited Wi-Fi, it would have been more expensive than Celebrity, which included all of these items. We also had a great experience on MSC last year and have booked a longer cruise on them for later this year. But after my Summit cruise, I can’t wait to get back on another M- class Celebrity ship.

Is there still a buffet or has it been replaced by the Indulge Food Hall?

When did the upcharge for the filet begin?

Is the food from Indulge Food Hall included or is it an upcharge?

Love the window booths!!

It’s entirely your preference. My husband and I are more into wines and prefer the better wines in the upgraded package. If you mainly drink spirits and the spirits in the regular package are ok with you, then you should be fine with the Easy Plus package. I am afraid that I’ve become a bit of a wine snob in my old age. I turned 60 this year and my motto is “Life is too short to drink cheap champagne!”

Sorry to hear this. Howl at the Moon is one of the reasons we love NCL. Hope they are not phasing them out.

Very strange. I'd keep calling to see if you can do it ahead of time. If not, for us it was a very simple process to do it at the first bar we stopped at once onboard. I think the bartenders get something from the transaction as they were extremely helpful. I will say that it seemed that only certain bars had the upgraded wines and liquors, but we quickly found those that carried our preferences.

Having never been on the Magnifica, it's hard to say. I will say that 4 nights is always better than 3 (especially at the same price!), but Nassau is really a throwaway port. I really wish that cruise lines would stop going there. But, it is always nice to enjoy an emptier ship!! I would not hesitate to recommend Divina. I have read so many positive reviews of Divina on that other site (book of faces).

Is it MSC Magnifica you are wondering about? I do not see a MSC ship named Magica. Our MSC 3-night cruise went to Nassau and Ocean Cay. We always stay on the ship for any cruise that stops at Nassau. It's nice to enjoy an emptier ship. I would definitely sail on Divina again; we loved that ship! We also love Key West. Our last cruise was on Celebrity Summit and our ports were Key West and Nassau. I have not read a lot about the Magnifca, but our one MSC experience on the Divina was very good. So much so that we booked a 10-night cruise on Seaside for this September.

Sept. 14, 2023, Seaside out of Port Canaveral. We are on the 10 night cruise. Is your cruise a 3-4 night cruise? Our first MSC cruise was on Divina for 3 nights. There was no option to upgrade our drinks package until we were on the ship, which we promptly took advantage of! For some reason, MSC does not let you upgrade the drinks package ahead of time on a short cruise.

When I look at my cruise online, there is the option to upgrade.

I honestly do not understand the negative reviews of MSC. We did a short 3-night cruise on Divina over Labor Day weekend last year. It was a last minute booking and they were the only line available out of our home port of Port Canaveral. After reading such horrible reviews, we went into the cruise saying, "it's for 3 nights, how bad can it be?" Well, we loved the cruise, loved the staff, and loved the food. We were not in the YC, but in a Fantastica balcony. We loved it so much that we booked a longer 10-day cruise for this coming Sept. while on board. The private island, Ocean Cay, is really beautiful. YC has it's own area on the island, but we were fine with "the masses". We upgraded our drinks package and I enjoyed Nicolas Feuillatte champagne throughout the cruise. The drinks package even works on the private island. We also just took our first Celebrity cruise in December. Loved Celebrity too, but I think the entertainment on MSC was a bit better.

Which AIs are your favorites? We have been curious about this type of vacation, but have never done one. Thank you.

No salt on the rim?

Just curious why two different kinds of orange liquors?

Does anyone know if the Prima has Howl at the Moon? It is one of our favorite things about NCL.

I had no idea that such a small, portable air pump existed. That is ingenious!

Also make sure to bring any feminine items you might need. On our last cruise, we came across a woman in the MSC private island gift shop looking for tampons. They didn't carry them. She indicated that the ship giftshop on the ship (Divina) also did not have them. As others have indicated, any OTC meds are also important. The selection in the gift shops on the ship are very sparse and expensive. Not every port has a CVS within easy access.